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November 9, 2009
Legislation Introduced to Protect
Big Sur Wilderness and Rivers
The proposed
bill would designate additional wilderness areas, protect 90
miles of rivers, and establish a National Recreation Trail and a
Botanical Area in the northern portion of the Los Padres
National Forest
Washington D.C. -- Last week,
Congressman Sam Farr (California 17th District) introduced
critical legislation to assure the protection of biological and
recreational resources on federal lands in the Ventana Region
and Big Sur Coast. The Big Sur Forest Service Management Unit
Act (HR 4040) would implement multiple measures to protect
public lands in the northern Santa Lucia Mountains in and around
the Los Padres National Forest, including:
 Designation
of over 90 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers including portions of
the Arroyo Seco, San Antonio and Carmel Rivers, as well as Big
Creek (map).
The Wild & Scenic Rivers Act protects rivers with outstanding
natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing
condition, preventing dams or other major development in the
designated waterway and requiring the Forest Service to prepare
management plans to enhance these waterways. The bill would
designate 35 miles of the Arroyo Seco River (including its
Tassajara and Church Creek tributaries), 24 miles of Big Creek,
11 miles of the upper Carmel River (shown in photo), 21 miles of
the San Antonio River, and 1 mile of San Carpoforo Creek. The
rivers provide habitat for steelhead and other imperiled
wildlife. Currently, the Big Sur River is the only Wild & Scenic
river in the northern Los Padres National Forest -- this bill
would expand those protections to five other river systems.
Wilderness Boundary
Adjustments. The bill would add the Horse Canyon (map)
and Horse Pasture areas to the existing Ventana Wilderness Area.
The bill would also make several technical boundary adjustments
resulting in a net increase of approximately 2,000 acres of
federally designated Wilderness (map1)
(map2) (map3).
Big Sur Management Unit.
The bill would establish the Big Sur Management Unit (BSMU) (map),
which would replace the Monterey Ranger District and provide
greater management and budgetary autonomy necessary to address
concerns unique to the disjunct northern unit of Los Padres
National Forest.
Arroyo Seco-Indians National
Recreation Trail. The bill would convert the closed Arroyo
Seco-Indians Road to the Arroyo Seco-Indians National
Recreational Trail, a public thoroughfare offering unparalleled
opportunities for hiking, equestrian use, bicycling and other
forms of non-motorized recreation.
Jeff Norman Botanical Area.
The bill would establish the Jeff Norman Botanical Area (map),
a plant community rich in endemic maritime chaparral on National
Forest lands immediately south of Pfeiffer Beach.
Fire Management Plan.
The bill would designate the BSMU as a Wildland Urban Interface
Special Study Area with the requirement that a Fire Management
Plan be created within one year, in compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act.
“This legislation will provide
permanent protection for the last free flowing wild rivers in
the Ventana Region and implement other safeguards to protect
these public wild lands and rivers for future generations. We
all thank Congressman Sam Farr for his visionary leadership to
protect the Big Sur Coast and Ventana backcountry,” stated Tom
Hopkins, President of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance.
If passed, this would be the
fifth time Congress has added to the Ventana Wilderness since it
was first established in 1969. The most recent addition came in
2002 as part of the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act.
Currently, the Ventana Wilderness encompasses 240,008 acres and
is the largest of ten wilderness areas in the entire Los Padres
National Forest. The adjacent Silver Peak Wilderness covers an
additional 31,555 acres of the northern Los Padres.
The bill -- formally called HR 4040 -- was introduced on
November 6, 2009 and referred to the House Committee on Natural
Resources. Final passage of the bill is expected sometime in
2010.
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